Tales from today's commute....

[prawny]

A couple in a 206 pulled out on me this morning, but were very apologetic so all is good. We spent what felt like 5 mins doing the old 'you first - no I insist' in the middle of the road, luckily there wasn't any other traffic about.

Very quiet this morning though.

 

[Jenkins]

And so the new year's commuting starts. Looked out this morning to bright sunshine, 1°C temperatures and no frost on the lawn so got out the road bike only to get onto the road and find out it was sheet ice in the shade! Stuck mostly to the main, gritted roads and got to work only to find out the heating had gone off on New Year's Eve which is no fun in a large, open plan office with single glazed east facing windows so it wasn't much warmer than the outside.

Lovely but chilly ride home as well in the late afternoon.

 

[martint235]

Cold!! Very cold. Nice sunrise though. So after 2 weeks off the bike, sitrep: achilles hurts (probably the weather); knee sore (hopefully the weather); fitness gone AWOL.

In other news, traffic was very light this morning but I did see my psychopathic friend in the Fiat 500 for the first time in months. She played nicely today.

 

[subaqua]

Cold. and all the standing water in the poorly constructed Segregated lanes that the LCC insisted all cyclist want ( oh noo we didn't ), was frozen into lovely sheets of ice. because guess what. yup as predicted by all those called "Negative" for not wanting them , there had been no fecking salt etc put down. strange that innit.

I have asked TfL , Newham and Tower spamlets for a response and ho is responsible for the salting of them .

I expect it will be as quiet as the LCC response whenever you ask them about the crass decisions they make.

 

[Smithbat]

First commute of the year for me, I wasn't going to go out when it was icy, but I have decided that what will be will be, as long as I am careful it will be fine. It is not like I hit any great speeds anyway, but it was very fresh this morning!. I am only 5 months now from my 100k charity ride, I know for most on here that is a walk in the park but for me it is a massive thing, so fair weather or foul I need to be commuting.

No idiots this morning, a very nice HGV gave me lots of room on overtaking so all was good

 

[prawny]

Cold. and all the standing water in the poorly constructed Segregated lanes that the LCC insisted all cyclist want ( oh noo we didn't ), was frozen into lovely sheets of ice. because guess what. yup as predicted by all those called "Negative" for not wanting them , there had been no fecking salt etc put down. strange that innit.

This is my concern with the talk of segregated cycle lanes round Birmingham, it would have been lethal this morning. The road wasn't brilliant, but the paths were ice rinks in places today.

 

[Ciar]

Cold. and all the standing water in the poorly constructed Segregated lanes that the LCC insisted all cyclist want ( oh noo we didn't ), was frozen into lovely sheets of ice. because guess what. yup as predicted by all those called "Negative" for not wanting them , there had been no fecking salt etc put down. strange that innit.

I have asked TfL , Newham and Tower spamlets for a response and ho is responsible for the salting of them .

I expect it will be as quiet as the LCC response whenever you ask them about the crass decisions they make.

I had fun in them this morning, perfectly fine up until i was down the mile end road, there was a large patch of ice outside bow road, i saw it but the girl riding with her partner in front didn't and came a cropper, didn't seem to be any damage done luckily as i did inquire if she was okay. I jumped on the pavement to walk along past it, but even that was a tad lethal so ended up back in the cycle lane dead center, made it to work in one piece, but it's a joke that we now have cycle lanes, which are now generally full of water leaves crap from the road, or ice! starting to think it's time to change route, as they are not maintaining the lanes at all from what i have seen.

 

[Twizit]

Flippin' cold but not a lot else to report this morning.

Rather amazed I didn't get a single punishment pass or honk from the cars passing me along the Portsmouth Road into Kingston, given I decided to avoid the segregated lane - similar problem to that above for the central London lanes - looked like an ice rink and not a hint of salt in sight.

Email duly dispatched to those concerned - they've done a good job of clearing it of leaves so far, so interested to see what they say about salting it...

 

[Simontm]

Flippin' cold but not a lot else to report this morning.

Rather amazed I didn't get a single punishment pass or honk from the cars passing me along the Portsmouth Road into Kingston, given I decided to avoid the segregated lane - similar problem to that above for the central London lanes - looked like an ice rink and not a hint of salt in sight.

Email duly dispatched to those concerned - they've done a good job of clearing it of leaves so far, so interested to see what they say about salting it...

I'm back tomorrow morning so was going to ask about the bike lane -a clear avoid then?

 

[HarryTheDog]

First commute of 2017,frosty but I did it on my 29er so I basically rode like a hooligan leaping of everything I could just for giggles, booming past people tip toeing in on skinny tyres. Got to work fire alarm went off as I locked up the bike, got in early for nothing, had to wait for 1.5 hrs before fire brigade gave the all clear. ( emergency generator caught fire or something ) cycle home was fine as well.

 

[Twizit]

I'm back tomorrow morning so was going to ask about the bike lane -a clear avoid then?

It was this morning but was fine coming home this evening. Doesn't look as cold tomorrow so suspect it will be ok still.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

First commute of 2017. I extended it on the way in to make things interesting and had quite a pleasant ride. Plenty of frost on the country lanes so the ice tyres have earned a bit more of their keep but they are hard work when it's not icy and you just want to press on.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Back at work today, suffering from the lurgy so short ride into work. Having to use the ice bike didn't help.

 

[subaqua]

This is my concern with the talk of segregated cycle lanes round Birmingham, it would have been lethal this morning. The road wasn't brilliant, but the paths were ice rinks in places today.

East west route was great apparently. But off the flagship routes not a chance . Long route tomorrow I think

 

[Bazzer]

First commute of 2017. The quick hand out of the window to feel how warm/cold/wet it was at 5.10 am let me down, as after 10 miles the was getting too much and the gloves and waterproof had to come off.
Roads much quieter than normal which was good, but still a couple of cyclists without lights.
Almost an unpleasant experience on a cycle lane in Salford. A very poorly lit lane on a hill where cyclists are hemmed in with construction site hoardings on one side and armadillo humps on the other was blocked by unlit building materials and non reflective barriers. Luckily I was taking it easy and managed to brake in time. Now reported to Salford Council.
I've been wary of this site in the past, but I'll mix it with cars and lorries in the future until the contractors are gone.